Aesthetic medicine comprises all medical procedures that are aimed at improving the visual appearance and satisfaction of the patient. Patients not only want to be in good health, they also want to minimize all imperfections including body shape and effects of natural aging. Indeed, patients request quick, non-invasive procedures providing satisfactory results with minimal risks.
The most common methods used for non-invasive aesthetic medicine applications are based on application of mechanical waves, e.g. ultrasound or shock wave therapy; or electromagnetic waves, e.g. radiofrequency treatment or light treatment, such as intense pulsed light or laser treatment. The effect of mechanical waves on tissue is based especially on cavitation, vibration and/or heat inducing effects. The effect of applications using electromagnetic waves is based especially on heat production in the biological structure.
Skin tissue is composed of three basic elements: epidermis, dermis and hypodermis or so called subcutis. The outer and also the thinnest layer of skin is the epidermis. The dermis consists of collagen, elastic tissue and reticular fibers. The hypodermis is the lowest layer of the skin and contains hair follicle roots, lymphatic vessels, collagen tissue, nerves and also fat forming a subcutaneous white adipose tissue (SWAT). The fat cells create lobules which are bounded by connective tissue, fibrous septa (retinaculum cutis).
Another part of adipose tissue, so called visceral fat, is located in the peritoneal cavity and forms visceral white adipose tissue (VWAT) located between parietal peritoneum and visceral peritoneum, closely below muscle fibers adjoining the hypodermis layer.
Water and biological molecules are diamagnetic substances. The magnetic field is not affected by diamagnetic substances. Therefore no loss of intensity or magnetic flux density occurs when passing through the biological structure or tissue. Therefore the deep biological structures may be treated by the time-varying magnetic field as well. One of the time-varying magnetic fields is the so called pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF). PEMF is limited by the repetition rate and even by the magnetic flux density. PEMF repetition rates are in range of 5 to 100 Hz and magnetic flux density is up to 600 Gauss (equivalent to 60 mT) based on Physikalische Medizin. [HEISEL, Jürgen. Physikalische Medizin. Stuttgart: Georg Thieme Verlag K G, 2005. ISBN 3-13-139881-7. p. 159]. Another source recites the highest magnetic flux density of 6 mT. [BRONZINO, Joseph, D. The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Volume I. United States of America: CRC Press LLC, 2000. Second edition. ISBN 0-8493-0461-X. p. 91-1-91-8].
PEMF may be used to improve the conventional non-invasive aesthetic medicine applications, e.g. radiofrequency treatment, diathermy treatment, ultrasound treatment, etc. The enhanced visual results are achieved in combination with these methods as described in US patent application publication US2015025299. The magnetic flux density of the recited magnetic field reaches 20 Gauss and the repetition rate varies from 16 to 25 Hz.
US patent application publication 2015157873 recites an applicator including stimulation coil for emitting magnetic field to the patient to induce muscle contraction for the purpose of fatty tissue breakdown. The magnetic flux density is in range of 0.01 to 0.1 T at distance of 5 cm from the coil surface, the recited repetition rate varies from 10 to 30 Hz and impulse duration is in range of 100 to 300 μs. However, the proposed treatment by magnetic flux density 0.1 T is limited to treat only superficial muscle. Additionally, this treatment may be time consuming and provide limited results. Magnetic flux density of 0.1 T is insufficient to intensively treat superficial muscle or deep biological structures since the magnetic flux density is low. The magnetic flux density is able to treat limited number of muscle fibers. Therefore the muscle contraction is weak and the method is insufficient to be applied for satisfactory enhancement of visual appearance. In order to achieve any results the treatment duration lasts long time period. Accordingly, patients with a high BMI cannot be well treated using existing methods.
Present aesthetic approaches do not provide a method sufficient for visual enhancement by contact and/or contactless use. The above-described methods are limited in key parameters which are repetition rate and/or magnetic flux density. All known methods use low values of magnetic flux density and/or low repetition rates which does not allow satisfactory enhancement of visual appearance. As a result, new methods are needed to enhance the visual appearance of the patient.